Skittles, the Chicago-based brand that made its Super Bowl debut last year, is back for its sophomore season with a new spot nearly nine months in the making.

The commercial released Tuesday features Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler coming face-to-face with his own larger-than-life portrait, done in Skittles. The colorful candy version breaks into “Dream On,” but egged on by Tyler to hit the high notes, ultimately falls to pieces.

Created by ad agency DDB Chicago, “Portrait” continues an offbeat advertising approach for Skittles, but is the first time the brand has used a celebrity in one of its “Taste the Rainbow” commercials.

CBS is charging a reported $5 million per 30-second spot for Super Bowl 50 — the most expensive ads in TV history — and will also show the commercials during a free live stream of the game. The game Sunday matches the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Last year, Super Bowl XLIX on NBC drew a record 114.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Matt Montei, senior marketing director at Chicago-based Wrigley, which owns the Skittles brand, said the decision to return to the Super Bowl was made soon after last year’s game ended.

Here is how the spot was created.

February 2015

Post-game assessment

Last year’s commercial, the arm-wrestling themed “It Will Be Settled,” was kept under wraps until its big game debut. The campaign, also by DDB Chicago, created social media buzz and helped elevate Skittles to the No. 1 selling non-chocolate candy in the U.S., according to Montei.

May

Buying time

Skittles booked its commercial for Super Bowl 50 with CBS for an undisclosed price. “You always have a new network you’re negotiating with,” Montei said. “It took us a couple of months to finalize and know 100 percent for sure we were going to be in this year’s Super Bowl again.”

June

Concept of Skittles as art

In early summer, Skittles met with DDB Chicago to spitball ideas for the next Super Bowl spot. The process began with landing on a consumer truth. “It just can’t be completely open-ended,” Montei said. “You have to start off with something that centers you a bit and it always starts off with the consumer.”

The truth they came up with is that people like to make artwork out of Skittles, an unusual medium that has developed a network of aficionados online.

Soccer ball made out of Skittles

Skates covered in Skittles

August

The Skittles "Portrait" emerges

The agency took the Skittles art concept and came back with half a dozen ideas. In August, a script with someone talking to his own Skittles portrait emerged as the winner.

Early concept art

Celebrity spokesperson sought

In a departure from the brand’s recent TV advertising, Skittles decided that bringing in a celebrity would “elevate the script,” Montei said. Creative teams were dispatched to consider celebrities — someone with an entertaining personality who liked Skittles and fit the script. Montei said Steven Tyler “just rose to the top.”

October

Steven Tyler booked

Tyler was signed to do the commercial in October. The script was tweaked to incorporate his involvement, and the concept evolved into the portrait singing “Dream On.”

Steven Tyler

December

Shooting the spot

Rented mansion location

Set rendering

The commercial was filmed in a rented mansion in Nashville, Tenn., where Tyler also has a home. The opulent home provided an evocative setting for the spot, where the portrait is unveiled to a critical Tyler, who is clearly taken aback by his larger-than-life candy likeness. When the portrait unleashes a version of “Dream On,” Tyler demands that his caricature sing higher and higher until it falls apart on the floor.

Editing process

Once the shoot was done, the commercial went into a six-week editing process. While an actual Skittles portrait existed, it took many takes, a plethora of Tyler one-liners and computer-generated imagery (CGI) to bring it to life. “Ultimately, it doesn’t come together until the very, very end,” Montei said. “You have to use a fair amount of imagination along the way.”

January

Skittles teases fair-weather fans

To build interest, Skittles employed Luke Kuechly of the Panthers and DeMarcus Ware of the Broncos to deliver actual local TV weathercasts late last week in their respective markets. Their forecasts for Super Bowl Sunday included an unusual prediction — a rainbow in San Francisco that could mean free Skittles for fans as part of a social media promotion.

Luke Kuechly

DeMarcus Ware

Feb. 2

Final spot revealed online

Feb. 7

Commercial to air

The Skittles commercial is set to air during the second quarter of Super Bowl 50.